Pincushion hakea | Hakea laurina
Often described as resembling pink sea urchins or exploding fireworks, these stunningly beautiful flowers belong to Hakea laurina, the pincushion hakea. Hakea are endemic to Australia, comprising 150 species of small trees or shrubs from the family Proteaceae. Pincushion hakea generally grows as a dense shrub or tree between 2–6m in height, with leathery, evergreen leaves up to 15cm long with prominent veins. Its inflorescences are 5cm in diameter, consisting
of over a hundred individual flowers formed into red pincushion-like globes with long white styles ageing to pink. Pollinated by nectarivorous birds such as honeyeaters, the woody fruits are held on the plant until it is burnt in a bushfire. The fruit then splits open to reveal two winged seeds. They grow mainly along the coastal sandplains of
Southwestern Australia. To the indigenous people of the area, the Noongar, H. laurina is known as kodjet. Their flowers herald the Noongar season of Djeran, the season of adulthood. Here in the Mediterranean Biome, they flower in our autumn too, usually November. KM
Plantain lily | Hosta.spp
Native to the East, particularly Japan, the plantain lily or Hosta is an edible garden plant with leaves of blue, green, yellow or white. Part of the asparagus family, they vary in size from the tiny H. ‘Blue Mouse Ears’, which grows 5–10 centimetres high, to the impressive ‘Empress Wu’, which can grow up to over a metre. Hosta plantaginea, a Chinese species, is used to breed fragrant cultivars. Hosta sieboldiana, known as Urui in Japan, was
a foraged food for thousands of years before being cultivated. Young shoots of Hosta are harvested in spring and eaten raw in salads, steamed or sautéed. Slugs and snails are also keen on Hosta but
don’t like thicker-leaved forms. At Eden, H. ‘Halcyon’, ‘Devon Green’ and ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ grow well, but ‘Krossa Regal’, with olive green leaves and a distinctive urn shape, is a favourite. HL
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